


House Of The Red-Eyed Kittens

by draconicsockpuppet



Category: Weiß Kreuz
Genre: Gen, Hiding Out In A Cat Cafe, Is It An Alternate Dimension Or All Just A Dream?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-03
Updated: 2020-03-03
Packaged: 2021-02-22 23:41:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,583
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23002264
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/draconicsockpuppet/pseuds/draconicsockpuppet
Summary: Ken hits his head. When he wakes up, everything is different… Everything except Aya.
Relationships: Fujimiya "Aya" Ran & Hidaka Ken
Comments: 4
Kudos: 6
Collections: Writing Rainbow Red





	House Of The Red-Eyed Kittens

**Author's Note:**

  * For [demitas](https://archiveofourown.org/users/demitas/gifts).



> Set roughly around the time of the OAV.

A routine assassination for Persia turned into a routine battle with Schuldig and Farfarello. As Ken fought with Farfarello, out of the corner of his eye he could see Schuldig pull out some kind of machine and press a button –

Ken felt something slam into his head, and then, darkness.

* * *

He woke up in a hospital. Manx sat in a chair beside his bed, tapping away at some kind of futuristic tablet device. Ken drew in a breath and started coughing at the pain in his ribs.

"You're awake. Good." Manx set the tablet aside. "It's too dangerous for you to return to the candy shop –"

Wait, what? Ken blinked. What candy shop?

"– with Blau still on the loose, so Rot is going to ground. You'll be staying with a man who left the team a few years ago." Manx's lips curled up in a slight smile. "He still gathers information for Kritiker, and he's highly competent. You'll be safe there."

Ken took a deep breath and let it out slowly – not as painful this time. "Yeah, okay."

It wasn't as though he had much of a choice.

… and what was going on with this Blau and Rot stuff? Black and white replaced by blue and red – how hard had Ken hit his head?

* * *

'Highly competent.'

Enough was off that Ken was beginning to wonder if Schuldig's device had thrown him into an alternate dimension, but at least _some_ things hadn't changed.

"Hidaka Ken, this is Fujimiya Ran." Manx handed Aya something small that Ken didn't recognize; a data chip? "Ran, it's quite likely Blau will attack while Ken is here."

"That's fine," Aya said quietly. "I'm ready for them."

That was familiar too. Ken grinned.

Manx looked between them and sighed a little. "Keep me informed," she ordered, and then she left.

"Come and meet Aya-chan," Aya said.

Oh. This was going to get complicated, wasn't it.

* * *

_His name is Ran_ , Ken told himself for the fiftieth time. _His name is Ran. His sister is Aya._ His _name is Ran. Don't call him Aya. That would be weird._

"Have you seen the cafe yet?" Aya-chan asked, bright and cheerful. "It's adorable!"

"No –"

"Don't harass him," Ran said, but his voice was gentle and his eyes soft. "Ken just got out of the hospital, and he doesn't need to work to stay here."

"I'd like to help," Ken said. A cafe sounded like fun – different than a flowershop, but just as relaxing as a cover identity.

Aya-chan squealed with joy and dragged him off to the front of the building. Ken glanced back; Ran was following them, hands in his pockets and a slight smile on his face. Ken swallowed. He hadn't seen Ran smile before, not like that – like everything was going to be okay, and nothing terrible could hurt them or the people they loved. The 'transported to an alternate dimension' theory looked more and more likely.

The cafe was indeed adorable, but Ken hadn't expected the cats; cats all over, sprawled across every surface, and Sakura Tomoe of all people navigating between them effortlessly with a tray of tea and pastries in her hands.

"Everybody goes by cat breed names here," Aya-chan explained as Ken looked around. "Tomoe is Savannah, I'm Korat, and my brother is Abyssinian."

Ken snorted.

"What do you think he is?" Aya-chan asked Ran.

Ken met his eyes. Ran didn't blink or look away as he answered her. "He looks like a Siberian to me."

"Come with me, Siberian!" Aya-chan dragged him off to the kitchen. When Ken threw a panicked look over his shoulder, Ran ignored him and picked up a cat instead. No help was coming from _that_ quarter.

"Momoe-san," Ken murmured as Aya-chan introduced them. "I'm honored."

"Oh, have you met?"

Ken shook his head. "Only briefly, a long time ago." In another life.

"I'm afraid I don't remember you," Momoe-san said apologetically. "Welcome to the House of Kittens."

Ken looked around. "You certainly have a lot of cats."

"It's a cat cafe, silly! Of course we do." Aya-chan picked a tabby up off the floor. Ken blinked. Its eyes were red. She pressed it into his arms and snatched up a tray. "Now, I think I'll put you up front to start with…"

Ken settled in to listen. It was nice when someone told him what to do.

Taking orders and flirting with customers wasn't so different from the flowershop; Ken picked it up quickly. Ran wandered in and out leisurely, checking a tablet like the one Manx had had every so often.

"All clear?" Ken asked during a quiet moment.

"No sign of trouble yet," Ran said. He held up his tablet: security footage from a lot of cameras at foot level. A garden of flowerpots on the roof, a bedroom, a kitchen, the cafe itself… As he scrolled through, Ken did a double take. Those were _his_ legs and feet.

"What? How?"

"Hmm?" Ran quirked an eyebrow at him. "Oh, the cats are part of the network. That's why their eyes are red."

Ken stared at him. Alternate dimension. Right.

"Anyway, Blau's not subtle; defenses are in place, and we'll have plenty of warning." Ran reached down and petted a cat that was rubbing up against his leg. "Won't we?"

The cat meowed.

Ken kept an eye on the cats after that. The cats outside had red eyes too, although after Ken got a few blocks away he started seeing normal strays along with Ran's surveillance cats. At least, he _hoped_ they were Ran's; the thought of Essett having an army of living surveillance units made him nervous.

Several days passed peacefully. Ken liked working at the cafe; he liked watching Aya-chan and Tomoe orbit around each other, he liked seeing Momoe-san again. He liked watching Ran. Ran was calmer here – his sister's safety likely had a lot to do with that, but even with an attack on the horizon, he seemed very peaceful. Ken could almost imagine that this was a normal life for them all, not an assassin's hiding place.

The next evening, Blau attacked.

They did have plenty of warning, thanks to the camera-cats. Tomoe shooed the customers out with a story about closing early. Then she and Aya-chan and Momoe-san disappeared into the basement while Ran and Ken went up to the roof. Ran had a rack of weapons hidden up there, including a set of claws for Ken.

"I thought you would be more comfortable with something familiar," Ran said as they quickly changed into their work clothes.

"Thanks." Ken checked the straps on the claws one last time and made a fist. They fit just like his claws back in his own world.

Dark-clad figures leapt out of a helicopter and began to fall towards them as bullets riddled the roof, and the fight was on. Ken dodged and punched and eviscerated with glee – peace and quiet had its charms, but he felt most alive in a melee. At his side, Ran fought with katana and occasionally pistol, a sleek shadow of death in the night. Their assailants fell one by one until the rooftop was littered with bodies, and the helicopter retreated.

Behind them came a slow clap-clap-clap.

"Good job, boys," Schuldig drawled. The smirk on his face had Ken seeing red, and he charged with a scream. Schuldig held up a hand, and suddenly – why was he so dizzy?

Ken focused on his breath. In, out. In, out.

"Boring," Schuldig said. "Try harder." He turned to Ran. "Where is it?"

"I have no idea." Ran bared his teeth.

"How ungrateful, and after I sent you on such a nice vacation." Schuldig meandered over to Aya-chan's row of potted roses and sniffed at a furled bud. "Hmm. Still too young." He broke off a bud and returned to Ran, tucking the stem into his collar. "I'll ask you one more time. Where. Is it."

In, out. In, out. Schuldig's voice fell away. Ken took a deep breath, and moved.

"If you won't cooperate –" Impact. Blood. "Urk."

Ken opened his eyes. Schuldig fell into him, staring up into his face, Ken's claws buried up to the haft in his side. "This is why I shouldn't come up with brilliant plans without running them past Crawford first, isn't it," he whispered, and then everything shimmered.

Ken looked down. They were back in the alleyway where Schwarz had attacked them, and his claw was stuck through the device.

"So much for that idea," Schuldig said, and then he and Farfarello turned and fled.

Ken looked around. Yohji was curled up into a ball on the ground, quietly weeping; Omi had his hand over his face as he groaned. And Ran… had been an illusion. Or had he?

Aya took his elbow. "Are you all right?"

Ken let out a breath. "Yeah. I thought we were in some kind of alternate dimension, but it was all a dream, wasn't it? Everyone off in their own little worlds."

"I'm going to miss the surveillance cats," Aya said.

So that _had_ been Aya.

"Same," Ken muttered. He shot Aya a look out of the corner of his eye. "And your sister?"

"She's safe and happy in our world," Aya said. "That's what matters most." He let go as Ken pulled away. "Just out of curiosity… have you ever thought about what you want to do when you retire?"

Ken grinned.

"I don't know. Maybe I'll open a cat cafe."

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to Anecdotalist for beta reading.


End file.
